118 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[May 1, 1S67. 



Birds Breeding in Confinement. — Though I 

 cannot supply A. Pickard with the information he 

 desires, yet the record of my experience may be of 

 some assistance. Bechstein, I think, cites a few 

 instances of cage birds breeding in confinement; 

 but the occurrence is very rare. 



A pair of greenfinches were brought up from the 

 nest by a pair of canaries ; the male bird acquired 

 the song calls of his foster-father ; but the female 

 preserved the calls of the species. Eor several 

 successive summers these greenfinches built nests, 

 the hen laid eggs, but the male on every occasion 

 prevented her from sitting. I have no doubt that 

 if A. P. reared the birds from the nests, and thus to 

 some extent domesticated them, they might be 

 brought to breed in confinement, especially if they 

 have the use of an aviary, containing growing shrubs 

 and plants. — B. Tate. 



Revolving Stereoscopes. — There are few 

 instruments more attractive and interesting in the 

 family circle than a good revolving stereoscope, but 

 unfortunately they have, because of their great cost, 

 been used to a very limited extent. The importance 

 of obtaining revolving stereoscopes to contain fifty 

 slides, at greatly reduced prices, led me to suggest 

 to two of the principal wholesale dealers in optical 

 instruments in London, the desirability of producing 

 revolving stereoscopes at such prices as would 

 enable working men in the receipt of weekly wages, 

 to obtaiu them with comparative ease ; and I am 

 glad to inform your numerous readers that revolving 

 stereoscopes of neat appearance, and of excellent 

 optical capabilities, may now be had of any respect- 

 able dealer in optical instruments, at about one 

 third the sum previously charged for such apparatus. 

 So popular are the new revolving stereoscopes that 

 one dealer in Newcastle-on-Tyne has within the 

 last few days ordered upwards of one hundred, and 

 a similar or even greater sale, might by a little 

 enterprise be obtained in all the large towns in the 

 kingdom. — T. P. Barleas, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



Honey Ant of Texas. — A Texas paper of a late 

 date, speaking of the honey ant, says : " We have 

 often heard of the 'honey ant ' of Texas, but the ac- 

 count seeming so romantic, we have heretofore been 

 hardly able to credit it, but as we now! have a speci- 

 men before us, furnished by our friend Leo Smith, 

 of this city, we can no longer have any doubts on 

 the subject. These ants are a medium size between 

 the large and small red ants, aud are of a reddish 

 and brown colour. Appended to the rear of each one 

 is a transparent sac or globe filled with pure, clear 

 honey, of a most delicious flavour. These sacs vary 

 in size on different ants — ranging between the size 

 of a buckshot and a navy pistol ball. On this sac, 

 at short intervals, are attached thin layers about 

 the length and width of half a grain of rice, and of a 

 dark colour, evidently to strengthen it and keep it in 

 shape. These interesting animals, when they craw], 

 draw their delicious load after them, and if the 

 sac is empty, they set themselves to work to re- 

 plenish it again. Whether they deposit this honey 

 in their great general reservoir among the rocks, to 

 draw froni it as occasion may require, or hold and 

 use it as individual property, we are not informed. 

 Here is a curiosity that we believe has heretofore 

 escaped the eyes and pens of our celebrated natu- 

 ralists." 



Are these ants unknown to entomologists, as the 

 Editor of the American Paper believes, or if known, 

 by what name are they distinguished ?—S. A. 

 Stewart. 



Rural Natural History.— Will you allow me 

 to correct a slight error into which my friend 

 Mr. Holland has fallen, in your last number ? He 

 represents me as saying that the dock is "used in 

 Buckinghamshire as an antidote to the sting of the 

 nettle;" whereas I specified Essex as the county in 

 whichthis use obtains (S. G., ii., 83). I would not 

 have troubled you with this, save that I have not 

 yet met with the practice in Bucks.— B. 



Poffanas multiformis .* — This curious fish is 

 imported every year into England at the end of 

 March, or in the first days of April, coming especially 

 from the United States, sometimes also from Prance. 

 Great numbers of species, or rather varieties, are 

 known -. the P. capensis or lunarius reported to have 

 been found by Dr. Herschel at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. The P. Martii found fossil in America in an 

 aerolite, &c, are most interesting specimens. I 

 believe the whale that was cast upon the shore 

 near Dunkirk, in April, 1863, during a south-eastern 

 storm, and which is described in a recent Prench 

 work, is the P. bolcencrformis. A new species is P. 

 therm a lis, just found at the island of Santorin (when 

 out of hot water the fish dies), is boiled and eatable. 

 English and Prench journalists sometimes gratify 

 their friends with a dish of Puffanasfish; the Prench 

 call them generally "Poisson d'Avril." I beg to 

 warn your readers against any too marvellous news 

 they may meet with in the papers at this season, 

 assuring them, probably, it will belong to the^genus 

 Puffanas. — B. Melle. 



Dust on Aquaria. — To remove this, I cut a news- 

 paper into strips about 16 inches by 2| inches, my 

 aquarium being 18 inches wide, aud I frequently 

 skim soup or broth. I find that two sweeps of the 

 skim the surface of the_ water by running the edge of 

 the strip of paper over it in the same manner as cooks 

 strip of paper remove all the dust resting on the 

 surface of the water, and leave it perfectly clean and 

 brightly. Another advantage is that very little 

 water is wasted, and the aquarium may be perfectly 

 cleaned in twenty seconds. — T. P. Barleas. 



Double Oranges. — I have in my possession a 

 small orange that was found in the centre of a large 

 one, and is quite perfect except that the rind is 

 wanting. And it was only the other day that I read 

 in the Manchester Examiner and Times of one having 

 been found with the rind upon it, and strange to 

 say it was of the same yellow colour as the larger 

 orange. As I am quite ignorant of the cause of the 

 development of these double oranges, I shall be 

 glad if any of your correspondents will enlighten 

 me— H. H. 



Aquarium Pest.— L. HP. (p. 70), asks why 

 do the eggs of the water-snails, which are adherent 

 to the sides of his or her aquarium, never hatch ? 

 Why, give them time ! In my little book on the 

 British Snails, I have stated that the eggs of the 

 fresh-water snails are hatched in about thirty days ; 

 and I dare say, 'ere this, L. H. P. will have verified 

 this.— P. Tate. 



Polarising a Rainbow. — When a portion of a 

 rainbow is viewed through a Nichol's prism, and 

 the prism turned till the long diagonal coincides 

 with the chord of the arc viewed, the coloured rays 

 disappear. Do they consist of light polarised in 

 one direction ? — /. W. 



* Puff and anas = canard. 



